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US Government Using Secretive FISA Rules to Spy on Journalists
Documents recently obtained by the Freedom of the Press Foundation reveal troubling facts about how the government is secretly using the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to spy on journalists. The documents were released as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by the Freedom of the Press Foundation and Columbia University's Knights First Amendment Institute. These newly declassified memos confirm suspicions long held by civil liberties advocates that the government is using and abusing FISA court orders to conduct intrusive surveillance on reporters they deem as "foreign agents" and on those reporters' contacts.
By using FISA, the Department of Justice circumvents traditional court systems that have long protected journalists from invasive and illegal spying practices. [...] Memos made public through the FOIA request reveal that it is highly likely that both the Trump and Obama administrations have spied on journalists they considered "foreign agents" and anyone with whom they may have been in contact.
(Score: 2) by Lester on Monday January 07 2019, @09:59AM (1 child)
No, they don't. At least in my country, Spain, there is no secret court. There are terrorism laws that allow more power to police, but sooner or later, they are accountable.
Every government wants the power and not being accountable. Democracy Governments are not different. That is what democratic institutions were made for: to control government. They don't always work and governments try to circumvent them and many times they success. But a secret court is not trying to circumvent discreetly democratic institutions, it is saying "Democratic controls are applied only when I want"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 08 2019, @05:37PM
Are you sure that "things" don't "happen" because there is no secret court to authorize it? As in, this cannot be allowed to happen and get out in the open courts, so we'll do it but hide it anyway?
Given the relatively recent (historically), murderous, fascist history of Spain (Franco), I have my doubts that attitude doesn't still exist in certain pockets.